Is it a cactus? A palm tree? A water tower? No! It’s a cell Mobile tower! That’s right! Cell phone towers today are being disguised in subtle ways unheard of just a few years ago. See a grain silo? Or a church steeple? You guessed it. It could very well be a cell phone tower. There’s even a cell phone tower that looks just like a lighthouse…never mind that it’s over two miles from the ocean.
But don’t let the pretty and ingenious disguises fool you. There is a real and present danger lurking behind the mask of these innocent designs.
Why the disguises? Obviously, for aesthetic reasons. The cell phone companies don’t want to make their neighborhood friends upset. They want to blend in. So they blend in while they blast your home and neighborhood with toxic electromagnetic radiation.
Cell phone towers, sometimes called masts, or mobile phone towers, weren’t an issue years ago when they were few and far between. One could often drive miles and miles through the countryside and never see one. They were few in number and were only found in obscure locations and seen only on an occasional hilltop. Today cell phone towers have increased dramatically in number. There are now more than 1.9 million cell phone towers and antenna towers spread throughout the U.S. They are now found in churches, schools, and firehouses and being seen on the rooftop of buildings everywhere. Did you know there is even a cell phone tower near Old Faithful in Yellowstone Park? Can’t sleep well at night? It may be that there’s a cell phone tower close by.
Just why would a mobile phone tower be placed on a church, school, or firehouse? Why would school boards and churches agree to this? Money. It’s that simple. The mobile phone companies will pay these organizations, and individual property owners, handsomely to install their equipment on their properties. This “rent money” can range from a few hundred dollars a month to several thousand dollars a month. What school district or church couldn’t use the extra money to aid a struggling budget? By “renting” space on an already-constructed building, the cell phone industry doesn’t have to purchase land, build a tower or construct a new building. It simply mounts its equipment on a structure that already exists. It’s a win-win deal for the cell phone company and the new ‘landlord.’
Opposition to these cell tower installments used to gone unnoticed and without question. Not so today. Neighborhoods and citizens are becoming vocally opposed. But it’s not the aesthetics that causes residents and property owners to oppose these structures. Communities and citizens are afraid of the potential health effects being caused by this technology and the adverse effect on property values.
We Can’t Stop Cell Phone Tower Construction.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much one can do to stop the proliferation and continued build-out of cell phone towers and structures. Although thought to be legislation about deregulation issues, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (TCA) was really an open invitation for the cell phone industry to place their towers anywhere they wanted.
Section 704 of the TCA basically states that local authorities can’t ban towers’ placement in their jurisdictions. The law says: “No State or local government or instrumentality thereof may regulate the placement, construction, and modification of personal wireless service facilities based on the environmental effects of radiofrequency emissions to the extent that such facilities comply with the Commission’s regulations concerning such emissions.” So legally, the local government can’t refuse to construct a cell phone tower in your neighborhood! Any challenge by local communities could easily end up in federal court. Our lawmakers have basically given the cell phone industry free rein to install these towers wherever they want. By the way, the cell phone industry helped write this legislation that our government officials passed as law! The public, therefore, now has no voice and no vote. Is there something wrong with this picture? Why didn’t our public officials represent the people instead of big business? Why would you let the very industry you’re trying to regulate write its own laws?
Does the income outweigh the potential risks? It appears not. Scores of studies and well-respected research have exposed alarming health effects from various forms of cancer to stress. Many experts today are predicting an epidemic in brain cancer soon.
Representatives from the industry are quick to point out the microwaves emitted by cell phone towers are well below federal standards. And indeed they may be. At least on paper. Most towers operate at a power output of 100 watts. However, this isn’t the total wattage of the tower. What they aren’t telling you is that 100 watts are the power per channel. Since one tower may have dozens of channels, you can see that the power output could be highly excessive and well beyond 100 watts. It’s a technical loophole. And, of course, who is monitoring the power output from these towers after they are erected? The FCC certainly isn’t. It doesn’t have the workforce or money to regulate the millions of towers and antennas now online properly. And who is to prevent these companies from turning up the wattage when no one is around? Some have reported that many of these towers have already shown power outputs in the 900 to 1000 watt range.
You Can’t Escape The Radiation. It’s Everywhere.
We can’t escape the exposure to this radiation. It’s everywhere. There are so many people using cell phones and wireless connections today that you don’t even have to own a cell phone to be exposed. You’re just as exposed as everyone else. Whenever someone makes a call from a mobile phone, the signal is sent to a cell phone tower. There are so many calls being made by everyone all around us, and now there are so many mobile phone towers in operation that all of us are caught in the crossfire. It’s like second-hand smoke from cigarettes, except that we can’t get away from it. There isn’t anywhere to escape.
How Mobile Phone Towers Work
Cell phone towers emit signals in a “flower petal” pattern around the tower. This 360-degree radius around the tower is called a “cell,” which is what the term “cell” in cell phone means. When your phone is in a “cell,” you get good reception, and when it isn’t in a?”cell,” you get poor reception. So, for a cell phone company to provide complete coverage, cell phone towers and antenna towers must be positioned all across the country so that the “cells” overlap. You can begin to see what a huge infrastructure needs to be created to provide complete cell phone coverage. That’s why cell phone towers and antenna towers are so prevalent. Furthermore, that’s why these antennas are installed in so many places like rooftops, fire stations, schools, and churches. This is what is necessary for complete coverage.
Studies Show Adverse Health Effects From Cell Phone Towers
If you aren’t sure that cell phone towers and masts are harmful, the following study summaries should convince you. Below are six studies that have shown significant adverse health effects on people living near cell phone towers. According to Dr. Grahame Blackwell, “these are the only studies known that specifically consider the effects of masts on people. All six studies show clear and significant ill-health effects. There are no known studies relating to health effects of masts that do not show such ill-health effects.”
Santini et al. determined sizable fitness issues in human beings residing inside three hundred meters of a cell cellphone base station or tower. The advice was crafted from the look that cell smartphone base stations must no longer be located closer than three hundred meters to populated areas. Pathol Biol (Paris) 2002; 50: 369-373.
A Netherlands Business enterprise for Implemented Clinical Studies looks at entitled, “Results of global Communications Gadget Radio-Frequency Fields On Well Being and Cognitive Feature of Human Subjects With and Without Subjective Proceedings” observed vast Consequences on Nicely being which includes headaches, muscle fatigue, ache, and dizziness from tower emissions Properly beneath the “protection” degree.
Gerd, Enrique, Manuel, Ceferino, and Claudio carried out a Spanish look at “The Microwave Syndrome” and found detrimental health Outcomes from the ones residing close to mobile cellphone base stations. The health Results covered fatigue, a bent towards despair, napping disorders, attention issues, and cardiovascular issues.
From an Israeli observe posted in the Global Magazine of Most cancers Prevention, Vol. 1, No. 2, April 2004, Wolf and Wolf said a fourfold boom within the occurrence of Most cancers in humans residing within 350 meters of a cell phone tower in comparison to the Israeli well-known population. They also stated a tenfold growth, specifically among girls.
Within the Naila, take a look at from Germany, November 2004, 5 clinical docs collaborated to assess the chance to people residing close to a cell phone tower. The retrospective has a look at became taken from affected person case histories between 1994 and 2004 from people who had lived at some point of the beyond ten years at a distance as much as 400 meters from the tower website. The effects showed that the percentage of newly developed Cancer instances became significantly higher in those patients residing within the 400-meter distance. The patients became ill on common 8 years in advance. Within the years 1999 to 2004, after 5 years of operation of the transmitting tower, the relative hazard of getting Cancer had trebled for residents of the area in the proximity of the set up compared to the inhabitants of Naila outside the area.
An Austrian take look released in May 2005 showed that radiation from a mobile phone tower at a distance of 80 meters reasons vast adjustments of the electric currents within test subjects’ brains. All take a look at Subjects that indicated they felt sick in the course of the radiation, and some suggested being significantly sick. Consistent with the scientists doing the examination, this is the primary worldwide proof of widespread changes of the brain’s electrical currents, as measured by way of EEG, utilizing a cellular smartphone base station at a distance of 80 meters. Subjects suggested symptoms, which include buzzing in the head, tinnitus, palpitations of the heart, lightheadedness, anxiety, shortness of breath, anxiousness, agitation, headache, warm sensation, and despair in line with scientists, that is the first evidence that electrical circuits in the brain are notably suffering from a mobile phone tower. The distance in this study turned into an insignificant eighty meters.
Two-time Nobel Prize nominee Dr. Gerald Hyland, a physicist, had this to say about mobile phone towers. “Existing safety guidelines for cell phone towers are completely inadequate. Quite justifiably, the public remains skeptical of attempts by governments and industry to reassure them that all is well, particularly given the unethical way in which they often operate symbiotically to promote their own vested interests.”
Dr. Bruce Hocking did a study in Syndey, Australia, of children living near TV and FM broadcast towers, which by the way, are very similar to cell phone towers. He found that these children had more than twice the leukemia rate as children living more than seven miles away from these towers.
Results in yet another recent study conducted on inhabitants living near or under a mobile phone base station antenna yielded the following prevalence of neuropsychiatric complaints: headache (23.5%), memory changes (28.2%), dizziness (18.8%), tremors (9.4%), depressive symptoms (21.7%), and sleep disturbances(23.5%). In this study, the participants were given a neurobehavioral test battery measuring such things as problem-solving, visuomotor speed, attention, and memory. Symptoms of exposed inhabitants were significantly higher than control groups.
Furthermore, Europe’s top environmental watchdog group, European Environment Agency (EEA), calls for immediate action to reduce exposure to mobile phone masts. EEA suggests action to reduce exposure immediately to vulnerable groups such as children.
The development of brain tumors in staff members working in a building in Melbourne, Australia, prompted the closing the building’s top floors. The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology is housed in the building. Seven staff members were diagnosed with brain tumors, and five of the seven worked on the top floor. A cell phone antenna is located on the roof of the building.
In England, the Orange phone company is being forced to remove its mast tower on a building in Bristol, England. The removal results from a five-year effort by residents and local authorities to have the mast removed. Cancer rates in the building, which has become known internationally as the “Tower of Doom,” have soared to ten times the national average for the 110 residents living there. The two masts sitting on the roof, one owned by Orange and the other by Vodafone, were installed in 1994. Vodafone has refused the remove its mast.
Cell Phone Towers Affect Animals
Animals aren’t exempt from exposure the cell phone tower radiation either. One veterinary school in Hanover, Germany, reports that dairy cows kept close to a cell phone tower for two years had a reduction in milk production in addition to other health problems, including abnormal behavior patterns.
Firefighters Vote To Suspend Cell Tower Construction On Fire Stations
Concerned about the effect that mass has on the nation’s firefighters, The International Association of Fire Fighters voted in 2004 to voice its opposition to cell phone towers and antennas on and around fire stations. They want proof first that there isn’t a safety issue. They have asked for a moratorium on further construction and placement of any more towers or antennas on or around firehouses until such a study can be conducted.
What Are These Antennas Doing To Our Kids While They’re In School? ‘t worth the risk. They should not be subjected to microwave radiation when science has proven there could clearly be devastating effects as outlined in the previously mentioned studies. School boards and parent organizations need to be aware of the inherent dangers of such exposure. It’s been clearly shown that microwave radiation penetrates a child’s head much easier than that of an adult. This is due to the thinner and softer bones in the head of the child. Skull bones don’t fully harden until about age 22.
How Many Cell Phone Towers Are Near You?
The average person lives within one-half mile of a cell phone tower. Have you ever wondered how close you live or work to one of these towers? Would it bother you if one were right in your backyard? How many of these towers and antennas do you think there are in your immediate area? Find out by visiting the website http://www.antennasearch.com/. Type in your address, and you’ll get a listing and a map of all the towers and antennas within a short radius of your address. Like most people, you’ll probably gasp when you see the numbers. These towers are literally everywhere. Hundreds and hundreds of them are probably located within a few miles of your home or office.
Watch The Signal Bars On Your Cell Phone
The signal bars on your cell phone tell you how strong the signal is that you connect to your cell phone. In other words, the closer you are to a cell phone tower, the stronger the signal. The stronger the signal, the less power your phone has to use to maintain the connection. A strong signal is indicated by a full set of “bars” showing on your cell phone display. Fewer bars mean a weaker signal. A weaker signal means the cell phone has to work harder to maintain the signal. Consequently, more power is needed to maintain the connection. The more power needed, the greater the amount of radiation produced by your phone and the greater exposure. So always try to talk outdoors or in an open space. This allows an easier connection from your cell phone to the nearest cell phone tower. Your phone won’t have to work as hard, and less power is used to maintain the signal, which translates to less radiation exposure.
What Can We Do?
Obviously, I can’t escape the exposure. We’ve established that fact. So what can we do to minimize the damage?
Here are few ideas: We need to limit our exposure in any way possible. Don’t live near a cell phone tower if you have a choice. Don’t buy a home near one even if the price is right. Limit your use of wireless devices. Go back to ‘wired’ connections whenever possible. Maximize your health through proper nutrition and good hydration. Eat foods high in antioxidants and take supplements. Eat organically as much as possible. There is no safe distance to locate away from a mast tower. Obviously, the closer to the tower, the greater the exposure risk, so do locate as far away as possible. Whenever possible, encourage your local government officials to consider transitioning to the use of fiber optic cable. Most of it has already been laid underground. It’s just not being used. There are no masts with fiber optics, and the small amount of radiation at the exits can be neutralized with technology now available. Discourage the use of Wi-Fi in schools by meeting with your school officials and school boards. Wi-Fi hotspots are popping up everywhere now. Even whole cities are going wireless with the installation of Wi-Fi. Again, it’s all done through a wireless signal, which is damaging to your health. Don’t let cell phone companies install cell phone antennas on the schools’ roofs where your children attend. The radio waves are disruptive to their ability to focus, not to mention the health hazards we’ve already outlined. If you can’t change your current situation, there is some hope. Some intervention devices now available that you can use in your home, school, and office to help lessen the risk of exposure. Some outstanding cutting-edge technology has been developed to intervene and help mitigate the damage done by wireless connections.